Taking That First Small Step out of Isolation

“When I was on the couch barely wanting to move to use the restroom, let alone to do more, what got me to taking a walk — a pleasant, relaxing one, at that?”

I was graciously given permission to share this Spoonie’s very personal and moving story:

“Garbage. I had to take the garbage out for this morning’s pick-up. While doing that, I kept walking, past the cans (after laying my bags in it), past other homes, into the night.

And that one step led to the next step…

What got me to that one step? What got me to take out the garbage versus delay? The consequence of fruit flies and a big bag of garbage with nowhere to go probably did it.

After the walk into the calm, accepting world and back into my depressed- and anxious-feeling apartment, I felt I really needed an accountability buddy. I didn’t want to fall into the abyss again. Short of an electronic one in the form of an app, I’d have to be my own friend through this. I came up with two whiteboard messages, as follows:

That last has it’s own, dark, backstory. After days of inactivity, I began to realize I could just melt into the couch and spend my days in total isolation, as I have, and it wouldn’t matter to anyone but me. I no longer have any family and friendships have necessarily drifted amidst upheavals and exhaustion of recent life. Being a life-long volunteer and active in the community in an ‘anonymous angel’ sort of way, I’ve oriented to helping impact others; it never occurred to me to matter to myself enough to do something for my own sake.

I made a decision. I am the tree. And I am the forest. And the tree has fallen. And it matters to me that it gets up.

I don’t know how this stuff locked-in yesterday when at other low times, it hasn’t. Maybe I hit some sort of bottom. Maybe I will hit a lower one.

For now, I am grateful to see that my body and moreover my mind are receptive to taking even one positive step, and that leading to the next.”

The person who wrote this story played a vital part in helping me create the Monthly Membership for those with Fibromyalgia and other chronic conditions (Spoonies). The membership site has a variety of short gentle movement videos to meet your unique needs each day. You can hop on and choose just one video that sounds the most appealing. All videos are 10 min. or LESS. Click here to learn more.